The late Allan Lazare opened up about his friend Liza Minnelli in a 2025 documentary, discussing what he said was her life’s greatest disappointment.
“We have been with Liza through all her emotional setbacks, like miscarriages,” Lazare, who died in 2024, said in Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story prior to his passing. “If she had to pick one thing that she’s disappointed in her life and that’s not being a mother. She would have been a great mother. She has so much to give. She’s been so wonderful with our children.”
Minnelli, who was married and divorced four times, experienced three separate pregnancy losses, People previously reported.
In the documentary, Lazare also described the relationship between Minelli and his own daughter, Lauren. “We have a picture when our daughter was 3 years old around a Christmas tree [with] Liza hugging her and then 35 years later, when our daughter had a 3-year-old, we have a picture around that same Christmas tree,” he recalled.
Lazare’s wife, Arlene, also taught their daughter how to sing one of Minnelli’s songs. “She taught our daughter when she was 6 years old how to sing [Minnelli’s signature song] ‘Liza with a Z.’… Our daughter was so proud to sing it, and she sang it all over the place for everybody,” he added.
The documentary, which was released last year, begins in the 1970s soon after the death of Minnelli’s, mother, Judy Garland. Told with the help of famous friends such as Mia Farrow, Michael Feinstein, and the late Chita Rivera, the movie sifts through the many layers that make the actress and singer who she is.
Feinstein and Farrow also discussed Minnelli’s potential as a mother. As godmother to her twins, Matthew and Sascha, Farrow said Minnelli has “never missed a birthday.” Feinstein also explained, “Even though she wasn’t able to have children of her own, she seems to have created her own family through all the children who came into her life and all the godchildren.”
Minnelli herself had a childhood that was at times “challenging,” she told Interview magazine in October 2024. “My mother was fascinating because she knew so many fascinating people who would come over,” she explained, adding that her father Vincente Minnelli was the “most glamorous” part of her youth.
But after her parents divorced, she “bounced back and forth” between them. Minnelli also said that despite that, she never hoped they would get back together.
“They didn’t really like each other so it wasn’t fun to be around them,” she said.
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story was released Friday, January 24, in New York City.
